Today, the first matches themselves get underway. As a reminder, this is a pilot - the full inaugural championships will begin this September and run for the 2018/19 academic year.

The pilot consists of four schools, four alternative provision
schools, eight further education colleges, and four other schools in
Westminster who will play at Maida Vale Library. The games include League of Legends (3v3), Overwatch and Project CARS 2.

Participants

Callywith College

King Edward's School

NESCOT

NESSSS

Sheffield College

Solihull School

Southern Regional College

Southport College

Sunderland College

The Green Room, Kingsley

The Green Room, Windsor

The Peele Community College

Truro & Penwith College

West Cheshire College

Westminster Academy

Wey Valley College

Coverage

The Championships pilot has enjoyed some good early coverage. Truro & Penwith College was featured on the BBC on TV, as well as the radio. Plus, our vice chair Rt Hon Ed Vaizey MP featured on the Wright Stuff.

Fixtures

The fixtures for the further education colleges in the pilot are as follows. These are subject to change, and the schools and pupil referral units will be announced shortly.

League of Legends

Overwatch

Format

This is for the pilot for further education colleges, and is subject to change in the future.

For League of Legends and Overwatch in further education colleges, there will be a group table of eight colleges updated each week.

The top four teams at the end of the group stage will qualify for the championship playoffs. First place will place fourth place in one semi-final, and second place will play third place in the other semi-final.

The winners of each semi-final will play each other in the grand final, while the losers will fight for third and fourth place in a separate match.

A gauntlet for teams finishing fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth in the group table will take part in a gauntlet, with a similar format to the playoffs, but to determine who finishes fifth to eighth.

For Project CARS 2, participants will aim to set the fastest times on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit, and the top two students from each college will qualify for the online championship versus other colleges in March. Full details to be revealed and confirmed at a later date.